In five stories and two short novels, Hugo and Nebula winner Resnick "examines our tendency to believe in various authoritarian systems, to accept them at their word, and to behave accordingly. And he doesn't approve," says Jack McDevitt in the introduction. Offerings include the humorous alternate Genesis story of "Genesis: The Rejected Canon"; the flustering of the Almighty in "God and Mr. Slatterman"; evil on a planet of Satanists and Wiccans in "Walpurgis III"; and a decadent, sacrilegious Jesus in "The Branch." Resnick (The Buntline Special) is irreverent, funny, and deeply concerned with revealing what he views as unthinking slavishness to the Christian deity and fictitious religion. The juxtaposition of grotesque violence, explicit sex, and cheerful blasphemy may be off-putting to some readers, but others will enjoy the often funny, usually shocking, sometimes didactic examination of religious beliefs. (Oct.)